Posts By:
Steve Crawford

He separated himself from the Nashville assembly line crowd by writing and performing not just traditional hard country music (which was a pretty daring artistic statement in 1980), but also by incorporating elements of rock and bluegrass

Viewing his life as a terminal battle between sin and salvation, Jerry Lee’s fierce energy was permeated with darkness;h e was dragging his audience to hell and he wasn’t happy about it.He has spent almost a decade watching “Gunsmoke” reruns

After Twitter, Facebook, paying your bills, mowing the sheep, completing your bug collection, and waxing your eyelids, do you really have time to spin “Whipping Post” or “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”? Deep down, you know you’ll never get to the second disc of the Can box set

It has been said that Elvis remained a fan of Memphis wrestling throughout his life and given his fascination with comic book superheroes, there is no reason to doubt that assertion, even the large, bejeweled belts he wore, while performing in capes, resembled championship wrestling straps.

Isbell doesn’t have the vocal presence of a natural born rocker and doesn’t try to be on this primarily acoustic based record. When wearing his comfort pants, Isbell specializes in a devastatingly forlorn sadness/regret voiced with schmaltz-free honesty

Shaver is as authentic as a dirt road and he’s an engaging stage performer – dancing to the music, shadow boxing, leaning back and bracing himself to put his entire body into the song, displaying a huge, beaming smile most of the night. His discusses his Christian faith repeatedly during a show, leading to some of the oddest proselytizing you’ll ever hear

Swift inspires a somewhat unimaginable level of idolatry in her fans. Women of all ages wore homemade Swift homage garb to the show; they screamed incessantly and reacted to their heroine’s every move, statement, song, and gesture. Taylor has gone beyond the realm of both country and pop music, proudly serving as a pop culture celebrity.

Whether the song required soulful blues, piercing slide guitar, tidal wave metal riffs and solos, or simple punk rock chords, Vaden hit every mark perfectly. Expert timing, wonderful tone. He knows when to lay back and when to take the reins

I would love to hear the True Believers play live with a proper sound system and I’d also love to see them perform a full set. After forty minutes, the Grapevine Main Street Festival organizers told the band to exit the stage. The True Believers were booted for being too loud.

Like the best of any art, listening to Moondance gives you the experience of opening a new world to you. On this album, Van Morrison wasn’t dwelling on the threshold of his beautiful vision. He was completely enveloped in it.

I have no idea why Hayes is performing his usual setlist with a clearly inferior unit. Whether it was the lack of rhythmic propulsion or inspiration, he was unusually flat vocally. The difference between a good band and a bad one was clearly on display

I doubt that Shocked is a savvy enough media presence to have purposely orchestrated the event. If one were in the diabolical public sentiment manipulation business, there are better end states than career suicide. It’s almost too easy to play armchair psychiatrist with Shocked.

Far below the surface of mainstream music, blues records were being made by Blind Willie McTell, Big Bill Broonzy, and a few others with scary adjectives in their names. The charts were more diverse than one might suspect – African- American performers Louis Armstrong, the Mills Brothers, and Cab Calloway were scoring hits

Flansburgh, who seems to be more disheveled and heavier each time I see him, mugs for crowd, jumps up and down in time with the music, and dramatically plucks out one note at a time while jerking his guitar at different angles. He’s the nerd rock Rick Nielsen.

Foley played in small Austin bars, when they weren’t banning him due to drunkenness, and lived in a car. He released a few singles in his life, but album releases were never meant to be – master tapes were continually lost or stolen.

The trio is comprised of three outstanding musicians – violinist Elana James, guitarist Whit Smith, and stand-up bassist Jake Erwin. Performing jazz and pop standards and Western swing classics, the virtuosos rotate playing rhythms/melody and taking solos. They know when to be unobtrusive and when to take the spotlight. They simmer and burn with equal aplomb.

Cub Koda and company are best known for their pro lung cancer anthem “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” which made it to #3 in 1973 and was covered by Motley Crue in 1985, becoming that band’s first Top 40 hit.

Inspired by exciting yet technically challenged groups like the Buzzcocks, Undertones, and The Damned, the Adverts were non-musicians ready for stardom. In 1977, the group released their first single on Stiff Records, “One Chord Wonders”

Scott-Heron’s catalogue is a mess, many of the albums he recorded for Arista from 1974 to 1983 are no longer on the market and there are too many bargain bin compilations to address. It’s hard to know in retrospect if Scott-Heron was a brilliant artist that never had the opportunity for the following he deserved

In 1998, the twenty year old, second generation bass player founded the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. B.R.M.C. have released two albums that achieved gold status in England and remain respected by music fans on both sides of the pond.

Public Enemy fought the power and The Beastie Boys released their brilliant Paul’s Boutique album. As we look back at the decade, we were able to survive a decade of synth-pop, kitschy videos, and electronic drums. As we peek around the corner to the ‘90s, I’m seeing flannel.

Lacking familiarity with the Spanish-language tracks, I didn’t connect with most of the songs on a lyrical level. However, the musicianship was so impressive that the group easily made a gut level, visceral connection with the audience.

Eight slow tempo sad songs about women in abusive relationships, women in suffocating relationships, or women trapped in their own loneliness can take its toll on a person. Lucinda Williams is unarguably one of the preeminent songwriters of this era

The Traveling Wilburys were the rare supergroup that deserved that designation and Public Enemy pushed rap music into a more stringent and confrontational direction. And if you haven’t heard Gary Stewart’s “An Empty Glass,” you’re missing out on one of country music’s most eloquently heart wrenching drinking songs